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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/26391136">Mesquite Grove</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/StarryNighty/pseuds/StarryNighty'>StarryNighty</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Sand Castle (2017)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>A/B/O, Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics, Alpha/Omega, Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Breeding, Dubious Consent, Extremely Dubious Consent, F/M, Kidnapping, Mystical Creatures, Non-Consensual Drug Use, Rape/Non-con Elements, Scenting, Transfiguration, Transformation</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-09-10</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-10-25</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-06 09:49:07</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Explicit</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Rape/Non-Con</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>2</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>20,175</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/26391136</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/StarryNighty/pseuds/StarryNighty</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Summary: You live in a small town and work at one of two stores there. One day you meet a guy who will change your life forever.<br/>Warnings: 18+, smut, stalking, intimidation, assault, non-consensual sex. Fantasy AU, A/B/O Dynamics, dubious consent, non-consensual acts, transfiguration, mystical pairing, scenting.  Proceed with caution.<br/>A/N: Thank you to my bff @titty-teetee for entertaining this story from me lol and reading through it for me. I love ya &lt;3<br/>Also this is post is pic heavy. I really just mood boarded a lot to keep me going while I wrote. I hope it’s not to much lol and that you enjoy it. Thanks for reading!</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Captain Syverson/Black Reader, Captain Syverson/Reader, Captain Syverson/You</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>14</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>72</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. Chapter 1</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>                                                           </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p></p><div class="">
  <p>Autumn sits all around you. Monday, seven a.m and the town is quiet except for a few rushing cars on the highway just off from the store you now occupied. The colors of deep red and orange are dull in the morning haze but it signals change nonetheless. It felt good, for you too were experiencing another season in your life. A new town, another chance to start over. It would have been frightening if you didn’t know that without this, your life might have gone another direction. </p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>You stood there in the doorway, hand on the knob as you opened it completely and pushed a big heavy basketball sized stone at the bottom corner. The cold nipped around your neck and you rushed back. And you waited, a lone dot slowly being enveloped in the heavy fog. This dense cloudy layer covers the town, the trees, the homes, your store and the one across the street. </p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>It was beer delivery day at the liquor store and your turn of the month to stand here and take count of intake. With the door open, behind you pale light from within poured around your body as you stood in the frame. You were one leg out, it was too cold to stand completely in the weather so you stayed half in with the warmth. While watching the truck slowly roll in front of the door and then back in, you took stock of this new you. A year ago, a quiet life seemed so far away, there was a time you enjoyed the sounds of a city that never sleeps and the pace the people moved at. But here, standing in the presence of the singular sound of a truck engine it seemed peaceful.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>The truck halted a few feet from the door, tail first, its lights ghostly in the fog and exhaust. You shifted to bat away the puffs of white, it doesn’t last long before a gentle frigid wind carries it off for a moment in another direction. And then there was silence once again with the cutting of the truck’s engine. </p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>For a moment raised voices from the head of the truck mumble over the cracking of gravel. Laughter, low and sardonic of sorts was louder as two men exited. Their stomping upon small pebbles broke the eerie morning time quietness. The first man you saw, a regular on this route greeted you with a wave. Dave, shorter than you but stout in his shoulders and frame offered a smile. </p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>“Hey, long time no see!” he said. You smile as best you can muster for this time of day and pull the clipboard from under your arm. “Haven’t seen you in a few weeks.” he added.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>“The four of us take turns. Today was my day..”you said quietly. </p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>“‘Gotta a new helper today.” said Dave, now standing in front of you. He handed a long slip of paper, a receipt of the day's products to be delivered.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>“Well, I’m glad,--” Your words and attention are pulled by the sound of a racket coming from the truck. Loud and cumbersome, it was unusual for normally Dave would have slid it more gently. But your eyes landed on the back of Dave’s helper. He had slammed the platform that was hooked on to the door to the ground. The chains on either side still shook slightly from the action. </p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>“--it’ll go faster this time at least.” you said finally and returned to your list.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>The sliding of the truck’s cargo door jarred you again. </p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>“Easy.” instructed Dave. “You break this shit we have to go back to the city for another truck.”</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>Once again you look up to see the man hop from the bed of the truck down to the platform. You didn’t look long. The man was already staring at you from under the rim of his dingy baseball cap. He was bulky and heavy with his footsteps as he strode the short distance to you. What you did see of him, he was large with broad shoulders and a frame built for hard labor you supposed. </p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>“Nice to meet ya,” he said in a smooth voice. It was surprisingly light, and pleasant despite the rugged thick beard that nearly hid his lips.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>A greet worth grin, short and tight unfolded upon your lips as you spoke. “Dave’ll show you were to go.”</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>“You aren’t even going to ask me my name?” asked the man, his smile when bigger as did the delight in his eyes. He slapped the back of his hand on Dave’s shoulder. “I thought you said the folks at The Corner Store were friendly?”</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>Your eyes bounced from the man to Dave who looked noticeably uncomfortable, but still managed a grin and a shrug. </p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>The man turned back to you, his white teeth shiny in the light from behind you. “I’m Sy.”</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>“Okay?”</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>The sarcasm hung between the rushing sound of a car and the shuffling of Dave’s feet. You rolled your eyes back to Dave. “Anything new on the list?” you asked, ignoring Sy as he walked back to the truck.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>An hour in and nearly done, Sy follows you through the first trailer lined with a variety of hot beer, winding to the next right entry way he continued to follow you through the second trailer. Once again, this one too held more warm cases of beer. Down the ramp at the end of the trailer he followed you into the main part of the store, fit for retail and held a large selection of spirits and wines in this section. He followed you still passed the counter toward the large fridge where shoppers could browse the sections of glass doors. But that wasn’t the destination. Instead you walked to the end, opened the door, a muscle reflex really, you held the door open for him as he entered too. Cold, though it felt warmer than outside, and packed and stacked into half rows with more selections of beer he followed behind you at the end. Shelving lined the end of the rectangular space, and underneath that was where he was to stack his cargo. </p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>“You’re new here.” </p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>You didn’t bother to turn around, “What gave it away?” you asked.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>Sy lightly half scoffed and laughed. “Well this is my hometown. I know everybody here and you’re definitely not a local.”</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>Not easily swayed by casual conversation you ignored him. But his presence, the largeness of his body is equal to the energy he silently emits. That can’t be pushed aside. Sy waits while you move to the back row and pick up the last flat case of canned ale and place on the stack behind you. With a finger you gesture to that corner and he squeezes between the metal shelves with beer waiting for customers and the stacks of cases on the dolly. From on top of the beer he pushed in he grabbed for five flats of canned spirits and approached you in the corner. Within this space it was incredibly small to begin with. But with him, his broad shoulders and height you quickly become uncomfortable with not having a way out. </p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>He bent over and slammed the cases into the empty spot. He performed this action twice more until he carried the last of it to this area. And then at last, standing in front of you close enough to smell whatever soap he used that morning he reached for the cold case you placed on top of the other beer. He smiled at you, a grin mostly, one you would see from another who had familiarity with the other person. </p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>When he stood, his chest was inches from you. Parts you thought were atrophied spark to life, it had been years since you were this close to a man. The pieces fired up, your skin first, smooth turned bumpy though you blamed the cold and ignored it mostly because then your heart beat harder. Besides the whoosh of the refrigerator unit suspended behind you it was all you could hear in this moment. Sy titled his head slightly with his eyes gliding down from your chest to waist and perhaps further still you were sure. Immediately put off you turned toward the door, it felt so far away now, relief from this weight of him seemed hours away. </p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>“I have to cut a check,” you mumbled and hoped it sounded plausible, it was the truth after all.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>Without turning back a short gasp hissed across the sound of the fan. Sy was doubly close, his chest and stomach bumped into yours. Head still turned a bit and you cut your eyes back at him. He was focused on your neck, he leaned in closer and his beard brushed across the skin of your neck as his fingers dug the high collar coat away. You stepped back, well tried - there was no room to step, instead you teetered back against the wood wall, one hand grasped the cases to your right the other placed on his shoulder. </p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>“What-” you asked but then heard a loud sniffing sound from him.</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>Instantly the chills upon your arms moved up through your shoulders and fizzled all the way down the sides of your spine. He dragged his nose up through your hairline at the back of your neck. A breathy whimper later, your body felt light, yielding at something you hadn’t had in a very long time - connection. Titling your head up at the feeling of small shudders coursing down your back, the feeling was inescapable, untamed and raw. </p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>And then it ended. Sy stepped back, his light eyes dark now stared back at you with something that you recognized as a man starved. He blinked and took off his cap, ran a hand through wild curls and replaced his cap. You stayed there unable to wholly accept what just happened but also, those pieces of you missed whatever that was. </p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>“Sorry about that - I couldn’t resist any longer.”</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>You wanted to ask the question; resist what? The impropriety begged for argument, to yell and tell him off about crossing your boundaries as men were often want to do. But then you remembered where he stood, where you were too and how many things between you and the door there were. </p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>Adjusting the neck of your jacket your eyes wandered back to the door. “No worries,” you said. </p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>Sy nodded with a smile emerging from his beard. The parts of you separated again, once again in their scattered places you frown at him. “Are you done? Can you get the fuck out of my way?”</p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>Sy stepped aside with his back against the shelving and the other cases of beer underneath it. Internally you scream at the lack of space he offered you but took it anyway. Quickly you step forward, keep your body pressed against the opposite side column of beer and can only manage to brush your arm across his chest as you pass. </p>
</div><div class="">
  <p>You didn’t bother to look back once around the last stack, you strode down the rows of beer hearing the clanging of the dolly behind. No door holding either as you walk out of the fridge door and to the register counter. It wasn’t until you were back behind there and near a phone did you feel normal again. In this dingy old liquor store, at least here with packs of cigarettes and brown spirits did you feel safe.</p>
  <p> </p>
  <hr/>
  <p> </p>
  <p>Halfway through your work week you awoke to the shrill crowing of a rooster. Scrunched up on the side of your full bed your eyes cracked open to the pale morning light bleeding through your curtains. It crooned again and you blinked, brows pushed together as your eyes shot to the fabric slowly moving with the wind from the ceiling fan. </p>
  <p>You grabbed your phone on the end table, checked the time: <em>6:14 a.m</em>. </p>
  <p>Shuffling on the other side of the window and the waggle of chicken noises was followed by another crow, this time the thing had to be directly in front of the window. </p>
  <p>“God damnit.”</p>
  <p>While you enjoyed this house, this space you created into your own vision of a singular life you felt bothered. In the past this sort of interruption in sleep either by sounds of the city or fighting from an adjoining apartment, or even the people you shared the apartment with would have been met with lukewarm animosity. But here, in this home, as you rose from the bed with little more than a shirt on, this chicken with his cawing and carrying on, you thought he might have made a better sandwich than a living thing. </p>
  <p>You jerked open the front door and in a flurry of wings and feathers about a half dozen chicken hysterically flapped and scattered. They ran further when you dashed toward them with raised hands motioning them to flee. </p>
  <p>At the end of the porch the last chicken jumped over the railing and out into your yard. Wind from your left, the north gusted around your bare legs and up under your thin shirt. Before you began to turn and go back to the warmth of your bed something caught your eye. From your house within the valley, rising upon a crest of a hill a white tin roof gleamed as the rising sun touched it. </p>
  <p>You would admit there was never really any concern to know the neighbors. Other than your house, this home about a mile away on the tall mound was the only house to be seen for miles. You still hadn’t met them officially, if people even did that around here. </p>
  <p>But their land stretched for as far as your eye could see. Marked by barbed wire fencing and metal stakes coming as close as maybe ten feet from what would be your land. But unlike your side of the fence, which was mowed before the beginning of fall, their grass grew tall and wild, the cedar and mesquite trees were thick, the cactus patches unattended as well. </p>
  <p>Besides this morning chicken fiasco, you hadn’t even seen the neighbors. It made you think, just a jolt really that broke up the fuzziness of groggy thoughts, that perhaps the people who lived there did not want to be seen.</p>
  <p class="fake"> </p>
  <hr/>
  <p>                                                          </p>
  <p> </p>
  <p>Saturdays were never easy, unlike the rest of the work week this day was met with constant customers as opposed to the lazy walkin’s of a Friday night. The liquor store would be closed on Sunday, so the rush to get the drinks for the weekend shook more people lose to come and get their selections. Also, to the side of the store, the park was filled and in the evening was lit up brightly with lights. This was different. Normally it was dark with zero cars or people. Whatever was happening brought even more people in than usual. </p>
  <p>Your co-worker, Hyacinth, short and blond went by Cindy mostly, rushed from behind the counter to open the beer cooler for you. As typical, you were the beer roller tonight. Laden down with a variety of beer you rolled it passed the counter where Adeline still stood helping customers make their final purchases. </p>
  <p>“I got it!” called Cindy. </p>
  <p>“My back is killing me,” you whispered as you rolled past her. </p>
  <p>A constant complainer, and as predicted she issued back her own set of ailments. “Well try standing behind the counter constantly after you stumped your toe this morning.”</p>
  <p>She said it frankly, as if you had no idea what pain was or could not possibly understand. You rolled your eyes back in front of you and walked through the open door while Cindy followed in behind you. </p>
  <p>“And I got sick this morning,”</p>
  <p>“Stop drinking.” your voice rose up a bit louder over the roar of the fans. </p>
  <p>“I wasn't! I just woke up crappy is all. Ugh, this thing with Rex. Did you know he still sends me money? After all this time! He makes me so frustrated, plus I hit my toe on the brass leg of my chair. I nearly snapped it off! It’s torture standing back there.” </p>
  <p>“Oh, must be really<em> crappy </em>to get money you never asked for once a month.” </p>
  <p>You sat the dolly down and grabbed the first case on top. “Geeze, I would totally hate getting money...just handed to me..” your voice drew out in a sarcastic tone.</p>
  <p>Cindy rolled her eyes back at you. “He still wants me to come to Sunday dinners at Olive’s.”</p>
  <p>“Well he always did love his <em>mammy</em>,” you couldn’t help but to giggle at her expression.</p>
  <p>“She doesn’t love me, she lets me still work here and all that but...fuck she doesn’t make it easy.”</p>
  <p>You didn’t have time to respond before Adie appeared with her face stuck in through a crack at the door. </p>
  <p>“Twenty guys just walked in -” she said, her voice quiet but begging too.</p>
  <p>Cindy waved her off and walked out. Even over the fans you could hear the high spirited laughter and deep voices, the open and shutting of the front cooler doors, the clink of six packs clanking out the windows. And immediately you were happy that there was only thirty minutes left before closing time.</p>
  <p>Products got stacked in their predestined places with little thought. Your mind was far away from this place. There was always the tendency to drift into a daydream at the moment the monotony of everyday life became stagnant. Somewhere on the high seas, the hero of your own story where money and time meant little, where you made the rules, and felt satisfied. </p>
  <p>You continued to dream as you walked out of the cooler, dolly in hand, eyes straight forward as they moved to places on the shelves that needed a bottle or two replaced. You paid little mind to the men there, who spoke softly with the beat of music across the street humming through the liquor store walls. </p>
  <p>Weaving around them with the dolly, you hardly notice their eyes casually glancing at your body as you pass them by. It was like any other Saturday, the men included with their minuscule unprovoked attention. Their movements within the store are meaningless, your mind was set on the last fifteen minutes until closing. That bottle of clear rum called to you like the couch, like the bag of chips in your pantry and the show you had been putting off to catch up on all week. You were ready to just be off.</p>
  <p>The dolly and you pause near the front door where the bags of ice laid within the stand up freezer. You opened the door, palmed the frozen cubes through the plastic and decided with the cooler weather you wouldn’t have to bag anymore tonight. </p>
  <p>Cindy said your name over the top of the men passing comments back and forth to each other.</p>
  <p>“I’m nearly done. I’m locking the back door.” you shouted over your shoulder and began to take off again, dolly in tow toward the second part of the store. Wine bottles stuffed together on rickety shelves clinked with the vibration of the music.</p>
  <p>“Okay but that’s not what I was talking about- Come here.” </p>
  <p>You kept going with the dolly. “I’ll be right back!”</p>
  <p>So you rolled it back there, just inside the first trailer and walked back. Finally you take the time to look at the faces of the four or five men on the other side of the counter. One of them was Sy. And you stopped short of coming into the main part of the store. </p>
  <p>“Hey! They are having a party up on the hill!” said Cindy excitedly. </p>
  <p>Her giddiness elicits a smile from you. But it was short lived as Sy turned from the counter as you took a few steps near. His large body leaned on his right arm on top of the counter, he stretched out a leg and his other hand held his wrist. A lazy stance but one with purpose that said he was open to friendly banter.  </p>
  <p>“A gathering of sorts. The boys have returned.” Sy added.</p>
  <p>“Boys? From college?” you assumed, it was fall after all, maybe the semester was over and these <em>boys</em> were younger cousins. </p>
  <p>Adie at the other register next to Cindy laughed. Another one of the men was leaned completely over on his crossed arms looking at Adie. But she was looking at you. “No it’s the -”</p>
  <p>“It’sa time for family to return home.” said Sy. “Usually the men take off ‘til they’re late thirties, they come back, help out with the land, home life and settle down.”</p>
  <p>“Are ya’ll..is this a religious thing?” you asked.</p>
  <p>Most of them laughed, even the men down by the beer, but not you or Cindy. Sy only smiled. </p>
  <p>“Nah, it’s more like a reunion.”</p>
  <p>Cindy crossed her arms over her chest, a few fingers played with the ends of her hair. “Hey you still got that bottle at home? Maybe you and I can catch up on that show and drink at your place!” asked Cindy.</p>
  <p>Still thinking about their laughter, maybe it was an inside joke you weren’t privy too. But Cindy’s sudden shift from barely contained excitement to attempting to trash the idea all together grated your nerves. “I thought you were trying to go to this?”</p>
  <p>“We can do something else. I got my toe to think about.”</p>
  <p>At the mention of Cindy’s stupid toe your eyes went back to Sy. </p>
  <p>“After we shut down, we’ll start over there...where is it?”</p>
  <p> </p>
  <hr/>
  <p> </p>
  <p>                                                          </p>
  <p> </p>
  <p> </p>
  <p>The car radio mumbled a tune under Cindy’s constant talking. </p>
  <p>“I can’t believe you didn’t know Sy was your neighbor.”</p>
  <p>“I’m not nosey.” you threw in, keeping your eyes on the gravel road only illuminated by the headlights of your car. </p>
  <p>You do your best to concentrate on the road. But in the pitch black your mind makes shadows in the spaces between bare mesquite trees, vines creeping over the fences that line either side of the gravel back road. Your eyes sweep back and forth for sleek bodies of deer that would dare dart out. It doesn’t matter that you are driving the forty mile an hour speed, you were careful every time you drove this way to go home. </p>
  <p>And as you passed the dirt driveway to your home an ache sets in. The kind that wants to be in your own environment with your own things. You even glance back through the driver side window, checking for the front porch light and wondering if the house missed you too. </p>
  <p>“I don’t want to see Rex. But I know he’ll be there.” Cindy’s whining cut into your thoughts.</p>
  <p>“Then stay away from him.”</p>
  <p>“I can try but he won’t listen.” she added, once again usurping another opinion.</p>
  <p>Before you know it Cindy was waving her hand to the left. “It’s right there, the turn in - with those big wooden gates.”</p>
  <p>It was open as you turned on to the driveway, though not much better than the actual road. Passing through them, they curved over the wide path, carved into them looked like animals, dogs maybe you weren’t sure. </p>
  <p>“Are they rich?”</p>
  <p>Cindy unbuckled her seat belt and popped down the viser, flipped open the mirror and squinted when the light hit her eyes. “Ya.” she said, running a finger underneath her eyelid. “They all are.”</p>
  <p>You drove further, even here the sides of the driveway were just as wild as the road you had turned off of. Though the gravel seemed sparse and gave way to the reddish orange dirt known for this area. Soon you were much closer in a short amount of time, you could see the house - if one could call it that. What you could see from your house was deceiving. That white house, looking now, was merely a metal garage. The mansion was large, spacious, across the land with timber embedded length wise to wooden planks running long. A cabin? A huge cabin fit for at least twenty or more people. And the cars that lined in front and down the driveway could certainly accommodate just that.</p>
  <p>“Oh ya they are rich, god damn.” you whispered and pulled off near the garage. </p>
  <p>You drove to the nearest light, half way between the garage and this big house. But as you came closer it wasn’t electrical, it was a torch made of a stack of stones topped with flames. Your eyes moved past Cindy who was still adjusting her hair and makeup to the house, all the lights outside were made of fire. </p>
  <p>“An upclass kegger?” you laughed and put the car in park. </p>
  <p>“No they aren’t stuck up like that. Really, they seemed to be good people.” Cindy started to say something else but shrugged. </p>
  <p>She looked at you, “Ready?”</p>
  <p>You sighed and resided yourself to just get it over with. Walking toward the house, you did feel a bit better, now that the drive was over you could look forward to an exit. </p>
  <p>Cindy walked ahead of you, grateful to let her take the lead you let her. And she walked straight for the large front doors with more dogs carved into the dark wood. Suddenly you were aware of the air around you, it was different from the natural smell down by your house. It smelled of the flora you walked through, even the timber that made up the house. Which only seemed to blend into the trees around it, even the front door was flanked by two small trees, stripped down to bare wood and made to be part of the architecture.</p>
  <p>She didn’t even have to open it, before you realized what was happening a woman popped out. Tall, with long brown hair was throwing her arms around Cindy’s neck. She pulled her into the house with you trailing behind. </p>
  <p>“I can’t believe you’re here!” shouted the woman. “Rex!!” she yelled again as you shut the door behind you. </p>
  <p>The woman turned back over her shoulder toward you, “You brought a friend! Please make yourself at home!” The woman let go of Cindy and opened another set of doors set into thick wood. Past the glass on either side of them movement could be seen. She pushed them in and stepped into a stone and wood foyer. You continued to follow but quickly your eyes were pulled into this grand living room the likes you had never seen. It stopped you.</p>
  <p>Your eyes were drawn to the large wooden columns of logs that gave way to an open layout that seemed to stretch to the sky peaking through a large window on the ceiling. Further in, the second story could be seen resting on more logs but that wasn't the focal point. Among the wood, and branches stood a rock at least twelve feet tall, carved in such a way it almost looked like the outside of a den or cave. Men sat around it upon cushions of leather or fur in deep conversation and acted like they didn’t even see you. So your eyes moved from then to the lip of this rocky monument where sat a clay bowl, burning with a fire within it.</p>
  <p>“<em>What the fuck is this place…</em>” you whispered. </p>
  <p> “The drinks are over there,” called the woman. She was far away, at the entryway of another room just off from this rock. She gestured into the room she and Cindy walked into. But you were still gazing, amazed even because beyond this rock were a row of double glass doors, swung open with soft music being played outside. </p>
  <p>Cindy called your name, finally you walked over to join her in what looked to be another sitting room but it was so much more than that, you just couldn’t name it. Wood followed into this room too, and stone. There were people in here as well, some crowded around a large bowl full of something blue. </p>
  <p>Cindy dipped a glass ladle into, poured it into a glass and then handed it to you. She did the same for herself, but before you could really ask her anything a bellowing hoot came from behind you. </p>
  <p>A man with dark hair came walking fast toward you, but glancing at Cindy, her face pale mouth open in a gasp took a step back. The man she did not want to see, Rex.</p>
  <p>More people turned, some laughed and others nodded in his direction as he closed in on Cindy. </p>
  <p>“Hey I’m going out there, if you need me. That’s where I’ll be okay.” you said softly. </p>
  <p>Cindy only nodded and then at once Rex grabbed her in a hug. That was your mark to leave, and you did so happily. </p>
  <p>You followed the sound of deep crooning vocals from beyond the row of doors. More people, perhaps the last addition to the silent count in your head made for thirty people in total you had seen were sat around. Again, square cushions lined the rails of the balcony, dotted out from there encircled a man with the black satin sky as a backdrop behind him. </p>
  <p>It felt communal in nature, some shit you might have seen on television about cults and how they huddle together, think the same, do the same. But as you observed their faces, they listened to the music, though spoke to whoever was near them. It seemed benign. Though this was the middle of nowhere, Texas, what use would have a home like this? <em>Who lived here?</em></p>
  <p>You gazed at the man for a moment as you moved to the other end of the balcony. It seemed bigger than your own home with its little two bedrooms, and small living room. And it certainly did not have a view like this. In the dark, it wasn’t truly vast blackness, stars peppered the sky like fireflies, the nearly full moon cast a pale pearly light upon the land. </p>
  <p>“See anything you like?” said a voice from behind you. </p>
  <p>Sy was there, drink in hand and a friendly toothless smile. He cleaned up, he didn’t smell like the smoke from the pits at the park any longer, the cap he had on was gone and dark hair bundled in loose curls around his ears and neck. </p>
  <p>“It’s beautiful here.”</p>
  <p>Sy’s eyes moved from you to the scene over your shoulder. He nodded knowingly, his jaw tightened and sagged, like he was biting down on a thought and then blinked back at you. </p>
  <p>“Not as beautiful as you.”</p>
  <p>You were unamused and it showed across your face. Sy’s expression grew serious, simply staring at you before taking a drink.</p>
  <p>Sy stepped closer to your left and stood near, he smacked his lips. “You’ll get used to it.” he said and turned his head toward you.</p>
  <p>“Used to what? Was that a flirt?” you asked, finally beating back embarrassment you turned your body and leaned against the balcony.</p>
  <p>“I’m not great at flirting.” Sy dipped in close, looking into your eyes, and spoke softly, “I call them like I see them.” </p>
  <p>He stood straight again, “So how long have you been in our small town?” </p>
  <p>The song changed, a few people called out requests before the man started singing again. You watched the people, buying time before you decided upon an answer.</p>
  <p>“I’ve been here for about 5 months now.”</p>
  <p>“Did it take you long to find a place?” he quickly asked back. “Not like there’s a lot to pick from.”</p>
  <p>“Actually, I’m buying the land right down the road from here. The price was right.”</p>
  <p>“The Grove house. I know it.”</p>
  <p>“Yeah?”</p>
  <p>“It used to be a part of this land, the caretaker’s house, but a few generations back we let them buy it from the family. Everything okay with the house?”</p>
  <p>“It’s a great home. I didn’t have to do much to it. But there’s a dead tree stump at the far corner of the house.”</p>
  <p>“I’ll come by tomorrow.”</p>
  <p>You shook your head like you were trying to throw off his good offer. This was all so strange, the house, this land, the feeling in your gut and now this.</p>
  <p>You finished the drink off, spilled some of it down your chin as you quickly tried to deflate his offer. </p>
  <p>“No, no--that’s not necessary.”</p>
  <p>“Hey we’re neighbors now. I’m home, I want to help you.”</p>
  <p>You wanted to say no one more time but your voice loses its intensity with the sound of a woman yelling. Cursing, Cindy strode past the doors, her eyes roaming the dark and then stopping on people and looking some more before she finally landed on you.</p>
  <p>Quickly she walked over to you, held your arms and ignored Sy complete. “Please, can you take me home.” her voice cracked.</p>
  <p>“What’s going on?”</p>
  <p>“Can you?”</p>
  <p>You looked over to Sy, he was eyeing Cindy before he turned his eyes back toward the house. Shouting, low and growing louder you shifted back to Cindy. She was still looking at you, concern settled into her stance as she grew rigid, and stared right into your eyes.</p>
  <p>You sighed, “Okay. Fine, let's go home. I’ll take you first.”</p>
  <p> </p>
  <hr/>
  <p> </p>
  <p> </p>
  <p>Sunday was bright, warmer than usual, but then again it was Texas, the weather seemed to have its own mind. And today it was sunny, with the heat from the sun beating out the cool wind. It made for a pleasant late morning, you weren’t even hung over. The ride back to Cindy’s was quiet, she hardly spoke - not like her. While her silence was worrisome you assumed it was some sort of lovers concern. </p>
  <p>The tree in the back had to be dealt with. You figured a few hours of digging around it would yield results. And while it did you were nowhere near getting the four foot wide trunk out of the ground. Squatting down near a deep exposed root, you swung your hatchet, splitting the wood and chipping away at the foundation.</p>
  <p>You were sweaty, and tired of using energy best spent making food and sitting in front of the television. Laying the hatchet down you grab a rope and knot it on the end of the cut root. You tugged hard, nothing. </p>
  <p>A rumble of a truck pulling up into your driveway didn’t sway your efforts. Planting your feet you hunched over and pulled back harder. It gave a little that time. When you tried to pull again, a pair of gloved hands wrapped around the rope in front of your grip.</p>
  <p>It was Sy. </p>
  <p>He smiled while plucking at the rope, “Let’s give it a tug.” </p>
  <p>His thick arms rubbed against yours, he fixed his stance closer but wider and his thighs brushed against your as the rope wrenched back. He grunts hard, “One more time,”and with another jerk the root comes completely loose from the trunk.</p>
  <p>Sy released it and you turned toward him. He was grinning down at the stump, white cotton shirt straining around his large arms with his fingers in the jean loops.  “Looks like you’ve done a good job of getting it to surface. I bet I can pop it out for good.”</p>
  <p>He backed up his black trunk and made easy work of wrapping a chain around what was sticking out of the ground.  You stood near the front of the house and observed him gassing the engine. Within a few minutes the stump cracked as it fell forward in the direction he pulled broken roots and all. </p>
  <p>“Thank you!” you said cheerfully. Jumping from the porch you saw Sy lean over into the bed of his truck and retrieve a gas saw. You watched him cut the stump down into slices. You wanted to help afterwards, you even tried to lift one but they had to be at least a hundred pound each. </p>
  <p>“I got it.” and without another word, and to your amazement, Sy squatted down and grabbed a piece. He walked a few feet with it, his arms wrapped around the part of the circumference and placed it in the bed. </p>
  <p>“If you’re up for a cookless night we are having a family dinner up at the house. Do you want to go get ready?” Sy walked back to you near the wood and grabbed for another piece.</p>
  <p>“Right now?”</p>
  <p>He lifted it, “Ya. Go wash off or whatever it is beautiful women do. I’ll wait.”</p>
  <hr/>
  <p> </p>
  <p>                                                           </p>
  <p> </p>
  <p>It was evening, the sun was setting when you stepped out of Sy’s truck. Gone was the warm weather in its place mist or fog seemed to grow from the spaces between the trees trunks and branches. Somehow the natural world mimics how you feel inside. There are shadows within you too, hidden by the mists of memories, light displaced by ghostly uncaring hands from the past. You look over to Sy, back straight, head lifted he walks like a leader. And when he turns to you, his eyes blazing some of the haze within you disperses. <b><br/></b></p>
  <p>Even with his silent acknowledgment that this was the beginning of something new. The lines of cars aren’t ignored. </p>
  <p>“Family dinner,huh?” you asked in jest, though left it open for him to explain further.</p>
  <p>Sy nodded, a whisper of a smile tugged at the end of his mouth and you suspected the expression was mischievous but you don’t know why he needed to be. </p>
  <p>Up the stone steps again, the outside ornate door was wide open though the one behind it was not. He walked forward, pushed it and let you walk in first. It smelled wonderful, food of some sort, meat and the fragrance of leather and wood met you. </p>
  <p>The grandness of the living room was even more so in the evening light. The feeling of being within a tree, or a cave did not go unnoticed. Sy grabbed your hand, surprised by this subtle gesture you allowed him to hold you, guide you toward a room that was closed the night before. The distant hum of voices grew louder once he opened the door. You wanted to stop and take in the space, the living room was but a glimpse-- this room was for kings. </p>
  <p>The entire space was timber walls, stone flooring with three low-height long tables running horizontal in this great rectangle of carpentry. The furthest wall was lined with large windows which offered the view of the tree country valley and everything of god’s creation. Bowls of food, trays of hot delights steamed up into the air looking like smoke in the dying light. The people surrounding the tables, had to be at least a dozen each. And Sy continued to walk along the side he came to the head of the first table, and nodded to those who waved at him. Their voices hushed with his approach to the middle table, he brought you to the second empty seat where you sat on the leather cushion. He took his place at the head, eyes wide at the selection, the prestige of this room you looked to him confused.</p>
  <p>“The pack is back together!” called Sy. And at once the room bellowed with hoots and howls. </p>
  <p>“In a few short hours we will celebrate the beginnings of a new generation!”</p>
  <p>Another round of hollering and calling waved across the crowd. “Eat!” announced Sy. And with that the yelling died down and the clutter of silverware filled the hall.</p>
  <p>You stared at the fried chicken mounded up in a tray, and then to the more than rare steak to the left. A heap of corn on the cob with a tiny bowl of butter was quickly taken and passed across the table. </p>
  <p>You turned to Sy, he had already filled his plate with what looked like brisket, a few ribs and yellow potato salad. </p>
  <p>“What are you celebrating?” you asked, and without looking up he spoke while chewing.</p>
  <p>“The return,” he shrugged and grabbed a rib and began to eat again.</p>
  <p>Not wanting to stick out, quickly you filled your plate with whatever was close and took small bites while glancing down the table and around the room.</p>
  <p>Cindy wasn’t too far away. Surprised because of yesterday's turn of events, you waved, and she returned it with an ecstatic smile. She leaned in next to Rex who gnawed on a chicken leg. Your eyes moved from her with a bite of a roll, to the carving on the wall behind Sy. </p>
  <p>The scene depicted there seemed to flow from one transition to the other. First a man, walking through trees, and then he knelt before a great dog. “Who made that?” you asked and took a sip of ice cold sweet iced tea. </p>
  <p>Sy looked over his shoulder, he grabbed a rag and whipped his mouth and beard. “It’s a family heirloom.” said Olive who sat across the table next to Rex. </p>
  <p>“It’s over two hundred years old. It was one of the first things created here.” added Sy.</p>
  <p>Your eyes turned back to the raised carving. “This house is that old?”</p>
  <p>“Older really.” chimed in Olive.</p>
  <p>“This homestead is a testament to family, loyalty, and resilience.”said another, a woman. The same tall brunette from the previous night. </p>
  <p>“So..this is a reunion hall or something?”</p>
  <p>Sy shook his head. “This is my home. And also the place our pa-family meets. It sits on three hundred acres of protected land. Throughout there are other homes, not as big --for families who return. Generational homes..passed down.”</p>
  <p>“Like my house?” you asked.</p>
  <p>“No, that was a gift to the caretaker. His loyalty was never seen of his kind before. It’s a shame he passed away and his family let that land go.” said Olive.</p>
  <p>“It’s in good hands now.” added Sy, who picked up the pitcher of tea and refilled your glass.</p>
  <p>Your attention laid upon the faces of strangers eating. “These people are your family?”</p>
  <p>Sy sat the pitcher down, “Might as well be.”</p>
  <p>Confusion spread across your face, “I’m sorry but,” you put your fork down and looked at Sy. “Okay, these people aren’t your family? But this is a family home?” You looked behind you searching for older faces besides Olive and found none. “What about your parents? Do you have siblings?”</p>
  <p>Some of the noise lowered with your secession of questions. Maybe you hit a nerve, but there were other women who looked to you as well. “Ya, I came with Jack,” the tiny young woman nudged the man’s ribs to her left. “So many secrets,” she giggled.</p>
  <p>Sy cleared his throat before he spoke. “My parents were killed when I was about twelve. I was raised by Olive. This home belonged to my mother and the land to those who resided here.”</p>
  <p>“But why?”</p>
  <p>“It was originally a colony.”</p>
  <p>“Oh,” you supposed that made sense for the times. But in today’s world...you weren’t sure, <em>strange</em>.</p>
  <p>Dinner ended with the men and their dates leaving the hall. Though you did see a few women and men stay behind to clean. You walked next to Sy, out of the rows of double doors to the balcony. At the right stairs looking like they were unfinished from a whole piece of a tree. You followed him down them, winding along the edge of the balcony the stone column holding it up to the bottom. </p>
  <p>The only patch of treeless land was not far from the home. Out there night had descended into the orange moon slowly rising into the sky. Your eye was drawn to an equally fiery color of flames licking the cool night air. </p>
  <p>“What a pretty full moon!” a woman’s voice said softly from the crowd.</p>
  <p>“Not quite,” said Sy. </p>
  <p>You were standing next to him, watching him gaze at the fire. It cracked and spit sparks near you before he began to speak once again.</p>
  <p>“This is a special night.” he lifted his head and spoke loudly toward the people and you. “A homecoming.”</p>
  <p>Sy’s fingers pulled at the hem of his shirt and yanked it over his head and then junked it into the fire. You stepped back and looked at the faces of the men. They did the same, each one, to the shock of the partner standing next to them. </p>
  <p>From the dark a woman approached, gray hair, wrinkled heavily around her eyes and mouth. She carried a stone bowl the same color as the long thick dress she wore.</p>
  <p>
    <em>Oh shit.</em>
  </p>
  <p>“This is a cult.” you whispered and took another step back. Sy pulled you back by your wrist. </p>
  <p>He mumbled at first, you thought he was speaking again but you didn’t understand the words. They seemed to rhyme and flow in the same pattern, like a chant.</p>
  <p>Your attention was back on the woman, she drank long from the bowl, she stepped to the edge of the fire, something within you felt danger that if she stood any closer her dress would catch fire. </p>
  <p>Her saggy cheeks were full, she leaned back and spit the liquid into the fire. The burst hit the flames, a scream from within the crowd crawled up from the howls from the men. The area was blanketed in smoke and sparks. The thick charred hot mist forced its way into your nose and down your throat. You tried to run but Sy now held you from the back. Craving fresh air you sucked in and gulped down any that was available. </p>
  <p>“What is this!” You yelled through a scream that tasted of blood. </p>
  <p>“The beginning.” he whispered into your ear.</p>
  <p>Your legs buckled and Sy allowed you to hit the hard dead grass. </p>
  <p>The smoke parted, maybe your eyes deceived you but the woman there, the smoke trailed into their mouths and nose. </p>
  <p>“You lovely ladies might be wondering what all this means.” his voice was low, thick with a delightful litany. His eyes were wide as he stared at each one. “Well, for us it’s about family, always has been. And for you, tonight, it’s the start of the rest of your life.”</p>
  <p>Sy began to pace half way around the fire and then back to you. He shoved a thumb into his chest, “I’m the Alpha prime in these parts, and this here is my pack. They’ve brought you here tonight, they have chosen you.”</p>
  <p>From your place on the ground, through the yellow tops of flames, Sy turned his eyes to you. “I have chosen <em>you.</em>”</p>
  <p>At the sting of his words you fell back and twisted with pain. Something hard and beating thumped through your chest and traveled down your muscles to your belly. As soon as the wave crested you scrambled away from the deafening screams of women behind you. Trampling through the grass it hit you again. You stood against it, huddled and hunched over your own scream called out into the night. </p>
  <p>Sy was there, you smelled him before he even touched you. The pain rescinded with his touch but you resisted him pulling you toward him, you kicked at his legs even though in his hands made you felt whole somehow.</p>
  <p>“Stop!” you screamed but he held tighter, his hands traveled up your arms and held your face. He forced you to tilt your head and met his eyes. A honey colored ripple flashed over the dark blown out pupil invisible waves of spread out from your eyes down your body. It was inexplicable, with his gaze you calmed to his touch, you gave in. </p>
  <p>Sy pulled you back to him, even though the sweater you wore the heat from his skin penetrated the fabric and so to your senses as well. He was in front of you but within you too, somehow you could feel him in your blood. </p>
  <p>“First rut!” shouted Sy up to the sky. Howls issued back, the sound whirling and ringing in your ears.</p>
  <p>“Alphas!” Sy dragged you by the wrist for you to follow, blurry eyes stared up at the house.</p>
  <p>“Claim your mate!” </p>
  <p>You entered the house in a flurry of groggy blinks and disconnected images. Flashes of wolves carved deep in stone, the sweat of dripping down Sy’s neck, his arms around you ushering you here and there. The smell of him got stronger down a dark hall, you tried to faint then, so overcome with the tearing in your groin you wanted to die. You wanted to give up and surrender to what could only be a slow death. But Sy, ever ready, pushed you, his presences gave you strength to continue over the threshold of a room.</p>
  <p>If not for your own breathing the cries throughout the house might have scared you. Death seemed plausible though; how hard could a heart beat this way without dying? Never mind the terrible screams, the violent fits of rage that seemed to float through the wood and enter your mind. You were dying, right?</p>
  <p>You clutched the wooden end-board as Sy stripped you naked. He maintains the closeness during, holding his chest near your back, a hand over your belly as he pulls the shirt over your head. He pressed his lips to your neck the sensation wracked your spine seizing it in an arch to meet his naked length.</p>
  <p>“I smell you…” he whispered and jerked you around. “I want to rip you a part.” he growled then quickly kissed you. </p>
  <p>You let him take. You let him feel and run his hands all the way down your back. Whatever this was, it reacted to his touch, left you breathless and sucking in air too. </p>
  <p>“But I won’t,” his hands were back at your face, his teeth nipped your lips as he spoke between bites. “I promise, I’ll control myself baby.”</p>
  <p>He turned you back around, with a hand forced you to bend over and without another word he pushed into you. Wet wasn’t the word for it, the moment he hit bottom you felt the warmth roll down your thigh. Sy gripped your hips, pulled out and then snapped your ass back to him. </p>
  <p>The invasion bruises you, it forces you to stretch around him. When you start to cry Sy stalls. He slipped from you, held you close from behind and directed you to the side of the bed. “Shush, hush, baby..” he whispered.</p>
  <p>He fell to the bed with you, on top of you already positioned between your legs before the tears could start up again. “Put your arms around my neck okay,”</p>
  <p>You felt heavy all over but you did as he said. Sy smiled and kissed you as he pulled your hands up over his arms and sank back into you. “There’s my girl..” he said on a pant. He buried his face in the crook of your neck, licking, tasting you his tongue swirled over the bit of skin just below your ear.</p>
  <p>“We felt just right,” he groaned. </p>
  <p>It felt like hours, the constant prodding, the grinding into you, his skin slapped against yours undoing you from within. You had never come down so hard on the sensation in your life. Holding on to him tight he pounded into you, his teeth scraped your skin until he bit down. Something more, larger entered into you at the base of his cock, you shouted out as he tightened his jaws. His legs and hips pushed you further up the bed with the shaking of his body. Sy lifted up his head, finally you could see his face, the ripple of yellow rolled over his eyes, his face contorted into some ungodly beast. </p>
  <p>Horror filled you, with the roar he let loose. You were fading though, the fear became thin with the steady beating of your heart. Your arms fell from him, his face returned to what you remembered. You laid there with him still inside. Sy’s face turned down to you, lovingly he kissed your lips, your chin, your cheek. A satisfied growl carried from his chest, long and vibrating it soothed you to shut your eyes. It sounded like a dog...</p>
  <p>No, a <em>wolf</em>. </p>
  <hr/>
  <p> </p>
  <p>                                                         </p>
  <p> </p>
  <p>The men in your life before were easy to pin down who they were. Too loud, and their words gave them away. Too greedy, and their needs, their time was above your own. They took too much and gave very little. Their faces and their warmth are nothing to compare to the man now laying at your side. </p>
  <p>You were a single child of single children. No extended family, passed friendly close acquaintances. Which many were brought into the fold because of childhood parties, work friends, but none could offer the connection of family. Sy offered this. A wild beginning for certain. But lying in a bed softer than clouds, his scent covering your body like the finest of tissue paper brushing across your skin but never truly feeling its weight. </p>
  <p>Naked as the day you were born, your lids crack open, the light coming in was muddled with mist diffusing into the room as a constant drizzly morning. Sy’s arm was around your waist and when you turned your head his eyes were already open too, watching you, studying the sleepiness across your face. </p>
  <p>“I'm so tired...what did you do to me?”</p>
  <p>His arms squeezed around you, holding you securely but you didn’t think of it as a vice, “Our kind is meant to be sleeping now. It’s our first rut...it can be exhausting.” </p>
  <p>Your mind searched for the meaning. <em>Rut</em>, it was something you had heard from hunters. When creatures mated..it was a time for animal reproduction. “Rut?”</p>
  <p>Sy folded his other arm under his head, his blue eyes with one freckled stare at you steady. </p>
  <p>“Babe, you were changed for the better. The boys, a few females are wolves around here.” </p>
  <p>You sat up fast, that was a mistake for your body felt heavy. “Wolves?”</p>
  <p>“Our people have been around for as long as there have been men.” said Sy staring up at you. “It’s a gift most would say, a curse for others.” And he rolled over on his back and threaded his fingers over his stomach.</p>
  <p>“Which is it?”</p>
  <p>“It’s an honor.” </p>
  <p>“How is this even real? I don’t understand…”</p>
  <p>“The world isn’t black and white, this isn’t the movies.”</p>
  <p>“So..I’m changing..into what?”</p>
  <p>“You are the Omega prime here, I don’t recon you’ll change like me but you are this. Once you see and allow your nature to come through you will understand my love.”</p>
  <p>You pull the covers up closer hoping that somehow it would protect you from the truth. “I’m changing into a wolf??”</p>
  <p>Sy chuckled lightly and pinched the bridge of his nose as he spoke. “No, you’re a vessel.”</p>
  <p>“I don’t want that.”</p>
  <p>Suddenly Sy sat up and moved his large bulky body toward you while pulling the sheet from you and sitting directly across you. </p>
  <p>He looked you into the eyes, “It’s too late for that.”</p>
  <p>The aches in your body, the creaking in your joints were reactivated under his gazing. Without thinking you stretched out a hand and grazed it over his shoulder and down his arm. There was no use fighting it, that feeling was beginning to churn and flex under your skin again. </p>
  <p>You fell back to the pillow, you can’t stand even your own skin. It itched, it pulled around your muscles in a way you had never felt before. His scent enveloped you, permeating, it sinks into your pores. You could smell him more now, as if the volume of this sense turned up to zero you could even scent his cock and craved what was within it. You wanted to hunt, you wanted to run, to provide...<em>what the fuck</em>?</p>
  <p>Sy unfolded your legs and laid his hips between them. “Baby, you’re sweating again. You need me. If you go for too long..you need it.”</p>
  <p>Shaking your head while wrapping your hands around his neck your voice trembled out, “I don’t.”</p>
  <p>His big hands buried between your body and the bed and gripped your ass. “You do...” And pushed inside of you. Every inch that sank your mouth stretched open. </p>
  <p>“My little omega is wet for me,”</p>
  <p>The words didn’t make sense but they rang true for your body. It was dirty and confusing but it made you want to be good for him. You shut your mouth, moaned as you did so and nodded.</p>
  <p>Sy began to thump, a smile maybe pulled at the corner of his mouth but his eyes remained serious. “That’s it…”</p>
  <p>“I knew you would be a perfect fit..” he groaned too, hitting bottom. “Take my knot so well, love.”</p>
  <p>“It--it hurt.” you mumbled.</p>
  <p>Sy kissed you lightly, his expression turned to concern, “I know love, it’s supposed to at first.” he grunted and began to slap against you harder. “Just a tight omega..”</p>
  <p>The longer he thrusted the more the base of his cock began to thicken. He bounced against you testing the width with each jab until he was forcing it in and out of you. “See..” he hissed and laid his head against your shoulder. Sy’s tongue licked around the marks on your next sending shudders to your core. Gasping, heart thumping his rubbing from within on your clit burst the sweet ache from within. </p>
  <p>“That’s my girl..” he whispered. Sy rose up, grabbed your wrists, pinned you down and fucked you harder. </p>
  <p>His knot entered you completely as he stilled on top of you. In the light of a dreary day his face flashed once again of the hound he hides within. His grip tightened and this time you did not give in to the sleepiness. Sy collapsed, still holding your wrists but dragged them higher as to settle in. His hips continued with small well intended prods.</p>
  <p>He lifted his head and stared down at you. “Do you feel it?” </p>
  <p>His cock laid within you thick and heavy. He moved a bit and couldn't pull out. “That’s me inside of you. I did this last night, but you passed out. I fucked you all night. Do you remember it?”</p>
  <p>Now it made sense, the aches and pains. “I had you about six times.” he said while still slowly moving his hips. He rolled his eyes back barely containing the ecstasy in his voice. “I’m filling you.”</p>
  <p>Your purpose unfolded within your bones, spread to your muscles as warmth from the sun would. A sweet burn, one that felt ancient and destined. The life you had before shed from you as you nodded toward him. You are his, it felt right and true.</p>
  <p>When his hands left your wrist you understood that he had brought you into his life. As he held your face and poured into you, there was no other person he loved more. </p>
  <p>“Just a little more,” he said and began to peck your cheeks again. He appeared relaxed and with it so did you. He rubbed your hair, cuddled into you no longer moving his hips. “We’re going to make so many beautiful children together.”</p>
  <p>Maybe with him and this strange new way, that your life before could mean more now because it brought you to this moment. Gently you caressed his face down to his beard and carefully kissed him back. Sy grinned as he pushed back on your lips. </p>
  <p>“I’m going to take care of you,” said Sy.</p>
  <p> </p>
  <p>Out of the shower you walk out with Sy naked once again. Water dripped down your breasts and to the floor you couldn’t shake the fact that this house felt like outside. Or maybe it was nature itself that had been invited in. You felt it here more than in any other place. The sense of being at peace, at being at home. Sy’s footfalls are never far from you. Like air, like sunlight too.</p>
  <p>“This is --” you said sitting on the bed. “I feel odd. Like I feel you or this house..I’m not sure how to explain it.”</p>
  <p>Sy handed you a towel and began to dry his body off. “Bonding.” he said while rubbing his dick and then his thighs. </p>
  <p>You stood up once again, and started to dry off. “You’re my mate. This home was built by my family, it means something.”</p>
  <p>His words swallowed your thoughts as you stared at him for a moment. Sy walked to the closet in the far corner, he pulled out a few pieces of clothing and started to dress. “I’ve got stuff in here for you too babe.” and motioned for you to follow.</p>
  <p>“How?”</p>
  <p>“We still have the keys to that little house you’re buying. I had them move some of your clothes here while we were eating dinner last night.”</p>
  <p>He leaned over and pecked your head. You walked to the closet and pulled on the long sleeve shirt, and held the sweat in your hands. You grabbed some faux sheepskin fleece boots too.</p>
  <p>“Over there,” he pointed near the bed to a large ornate dresser. “Your socks and things.”</p>
  <p>You finished dressing as Sy walked from the bathroom, his curls were tamed for the time as he fanned his fingers through them. “Just try and let it happen, okay? The more you fight it, the longer it takes.”</p>
  <p>“You brought me here! You drugged me and now you just want me to accept this?”</p>
  <p>Sy shrugged, “It’s always been this way.” He stepped up to you and the connection hummed at his fingertips that lightly grazed the skin around your mark. “I know you feel wronged. I’m sorry I took you. But this is your home now, it would only upset the baby if you kept fighting against this.”</p>
  <p>Your head snapped back, “Baby?” You touched your stomach, a reflex really. </p>
  <p>“There will be soon.” he smiled and brought you back to his face, “We need to--” but he stopped suddenly and sniffed the air. “Wait here.” </p>
  <p>Purely out of the concern in his voice you did as he said. But there was more, it was in your bones and you followed out the door anyway. Loud voices carried across the space. At once within the hallway the smell of rot hit your nose. Maggoty things sprang to mind, decay and plunder of flesh flashed across your mind. Sy continued around the second story, and you followed passed busts of brass faces and more pelts lining the inside wall. Despite the sunny rays pouring over dark wood from above and falling down onto the stone monument below, the air felt rancid. </p>
  <p>Passed an adjacent hallway, and another few closed doors you saw the source of the fretful talking. Rex turned his head from the railway overlooking the first floor up to Sy. He paced away from it back to the door behind him, he looked in, his eyes wide he did not stop staring within. Sy stopped next to him, you saw him turn his head and peer in too. You followed suit, with your eyes adjusting to the light blazing in from three giant windows. Within the bed laid a woman upon her back, arms half moved like a crooked doll her eyes were open staring blankly up at the ceiling. </p>
  <p>She was the source, your stomach turned and you stepped forward. Sy held you by the arm. But she did not look decomposed, but the smell wafted up to you anyways. “Cindy!”</p>
  <p>You moved again but was still held back, “Wait love.” asked Sy quietly.</p>
  <p>“She didn't--” Rex was crying as he spoke. “..the transformation..she.”</p>
  <p>There was an end, clearly somewhere within this concoction of mystical smoke people could die. Women met their end.</p>
  <p>Olive approached from the other side of Rex, she crossed her arms and stared within the room disappointed. “You know what needs to be done Rex.” her aged voice cracked in the middle, executing the order while dealing compassion was never her strongest trait. </p>
  <p>“She just died!” you yelled.</p>
  <p>Olive stayed level as she spoke to Sy. “You don’t want the old God after us, Alpha Prime. You are that now, tonight will make it official. You must do it.”</p>
  <p>“She has a family! They will look for her!” you turned around and shouted at Olive. </p>
  <p>Olive seemed to cave into your voice as she turned her head shakily toward you. “I know her mother, sisters. If they come asking questions I’ll handle it.” She released a breath, steadied herself against Rex and looked back to Sy.</p>
  <p>“When’s the last time you knelt to an Omega Prime?” he asked Olive. She frowned, and it looked like she was biting the inside of her lip and averted her eyes back to the room. “Half the day is gone.” said Sy.  “Tonight is the run..we need to do this just after dark.”</p>
  <p>“So that’s it!” your voice came out as little more than a whisper. “You kill her? Now you’re going to hid-”</p>
  <p>Sy whipped you around stared right into your eyes, the color in them shifted. They emitted authority down upon you to the point you were left speechless. His jaw relaxed and with it an almost soothing growl followed, but you broke through you attempted to turn your eyes. But he grabbed you by the arms, made you gaze back at him. He began to growl low, not threatening, you felt the anger within you plummet. </p>
  <p>“Now that you’re calm, listen. She has received the gift but her soul did not take to it. If we do not dispose of the body properly...”</p>
  <p>Sy let you go and turned his eyes back to the room. “Let’s just say they haven’t had a dark soul in this area in a generation.”</p>
  <p> </p>
  <hr/>
  <p> </p>
  <p>Already the house smelled better, though cold with every window now wide open, the older women went about shutting them again. A small thin woman with silver hair eyed you as she walked passed you toward the kitchen. <b><br/></b></p>
  <p>“There’s still breakfast left.” she said softly. “Just for you, miss.”</p>
  <p>You muddled over her comment for a minute. You were starving but the idea of eating after finding Cindy dead was pulling at your ethics. She turned at the door to the kitchen and waved you in. You relented to the hunger. </p>
  <p>Within the kitchen it was busy, with women and men going about preparing food. A giant stone island had six people surrounding it chopping up onions, tomatoes and other things you didn’t get a good look at. The woman returned to you with a plate of toast, a giant pile of scrambled eggs, bacon and glass of orange juice and motioned for you to sit at the last seat near a young girl who was crushing saltine crackers into a giant bowl. </p>
  <p>You ate quickly, said nothing as their conversation picked back up with the arrival of this woman. She had to be about ninety, she commanded the kitchen, ordered people with soft words but stern looks if they back talked her instructions. </p>
  <p>“Well no one else is gunna say it.” said a woman from the other side of the counter. She had curly brown hair, jagged eyebrows that gave her the permanent expression of agitation. “So how does it feel to be the Queen of the Den?”</p>
  <p>When you bit off from your toast, those talking halted and looked at you, some continued their jobs in silence. </p>
  <p>You chewed a couple of times, “I don’t know what that means,” you said with a full mouth. </p>
  <p>The woman looked up to the older woman rolling out dough. She scoffed, “Sloan knows how to pick’em.” and rolled her eyes.</p>
  <p>With that the old woman banged the roller on the counter and pointed it back at the woman. “Peach! It’s true!”</p>
  <p>“I won’t hear it!” said Peach, her soft voice broke into a growl. “Dottie shut that damn big hole in your face!” </p>
  <p>“It’s not for you to know how to strengthen the pack.” Peach relaxed back, held the roller between thick knuckles and looked back toward you. </p>
  <p>“Sorry about that Prime. I wouldn’t recon young and dumb went hand in hand unless it came to Dottie. She meant no harm.”</p>
  <p>You nodded slightly, sat up a bit straighter and continued to eat. <em>Sloan</em>? After all this, you had never known his first name. They returned to work, though Dottie went right back to chatting with the woman next to her. The little girl hummed next to you as she moved to the next sleeve of crackers. And halfway swallowing the orange juice the back door swung open with a man carrying an animal over his shoulder. Sy entered right behind him, the man slammed the carcass on a large prepping table at the back of the large kitchen. </p>
  <p>Sy’s gaze never left you as he walked across the kitchen, he slipped in between you and the girl and kissed the top of your head. </p>
  <p>“Hey<em> Sloan.</em>” you said under your breath, he pulled back nodded then smiled slightly as he grabbed a few crackers from the table. </p>
  <p>“Are you done?” he asked, you plucked the toast from the plate and followed him out the back door.</p>
  <p> </p>
  <p>You walked and walked with Sy. After a few minutes of silence he grabbed your hand and led you away from the house deeper into the land. </p>
  <p>“What’s going to happen to Cindy,” you asked quietly. </p>
  <p>“At dark there will be a ceremony, she will be buried then.”</p>
  <p>He said it matter of fact though it did not set that way with you. But nothing really felt right since you got here. It was just another shocking development after another really. “What kind of ceremony?”</p>
  <p>Sy helped you step over a fell tree, “For the turning. She has to be burned before it’s over.”</p>
  <p>You tried not to take his callousness to heart. Though it did seem insane to speak of the dead in such a way. It didn’t strike you as hard though. Something within you felt calm about it, like a lasting trust for the man near.</p>
  <p>And you didn’t know if it was the walking but you felt sick. At first in your stomach but quickly it grew to aches and cramps in your belly. </p>
  <p>“I heard Olive say that,” you said through a twist beginning to gnaw at your back. </p>
  <p>“The pack expects it. I’m the Alpha Prime, it is up to me to see that we are safe. And I will do it. I’ll do it till my last breath.”</p>
  <p>Sy let go of your hand and wrapped his arm around your back. “This land is for you too,” his hand drifted down your back and settled into the back pocket of your jeans. “I want you to feel at home here.”</p>
  <p>When you didn’t respond Sy stopped and forced you to look at him. His fingers stroked your cheek and then with the back of his hand, testing and feeling your claiming skin. “You need me?” he asked.</p>
  <p>Shaking your head you pulled from him and walked whatever direction you thought he was going. But you didn’t get far before you doubled over. </p>
  <p>Sy was there, near you making you stand up and lean on him. “Come on, there’s a cabin near. It should be vacant for a few hours.”</p>
  <p>“We can’t just use someone’s home-” you winced.</p>
  <p>He made you walk with him again, “It's not. Call it a lookout, there are other things out here a lot more dangerous than the occasional coyote.”</p>
  <p>You huddled into him, sweating and whining as he walked you down the path where a small house came into view. He helped you up the stairs feeling the wetness building between your thighs. And as soon as you got in it he was on you. “We barely made it in here love.” he said between kisses. His hands quickly grabbed and tugged at your pants as he walked you toward a patchy couch. </p>
  <p>His nose dragged from your neck, your breasts with his fingers pulling at the top of your jeans. You didn’t fight him when he pushed you down. You didn’t say a word when he used your jeans and underwear as a way of holding your legs up and close to your chest. Exposing your glistening pussy, Sy pulled himself out and entered you immediately. Bare upper thighs, Sy’s hands held you there allowing the pants to continue to restrain your legs. </p>
  <p>“Do I really want this? Or is it something else?” you moaned as he pumped fast.</p>
  <p>Your eyes rolled back, “Feels so <em>good</em>.” you whispered as he thumped harder.</p>
  <p>“It's real,...you belong to me.” Sy leaned in crushing you more with his weight and size. He sucked hard and fanned breath down to you as he huffed, “Always have…the smoke wouldn’t have taken if it weren’t true.”</p>
  <p>“You,” he pushed in with every word, “..belong to me.”</p>
  <p> </p>
  <hr/>
  <p> </p>
  <p>                                                           </p>
  <p> </p>
  <p>“They live in the fog,” Sy said and pointed toward the dark patches between trees. </p>
  <p>You were right to be afraid, not of them though, for you had seen these on your first ride up here. In the car with a chatty Cindy you had told yourself it was only an illusion. Perhaps the fear was of yourself, the ignorance, the lack of connection to worlds thought to be of lore that were closer than you thought.</p>
  <p>“Who are they?” you asked while walking closer to Sy. The open woods felt smaller now, what other beings existed out in the wild?</p>
  <p>“Sprites, small gods.” he said, looking forward again. “B’careful and never ask anything of them. They crave warmth at the best of times, they like to hang around bodies. But if you speak to them it’sa chance for them to get inside of you.”</p>
  <p>You said nothing after that, wide eyes continued to search the trees recognizing more hazy emotionless faces than before with each step. Light from the torches grew brighter, illuminating the dark and with it the beings faded with the touch of heat. </p>
  <p>You entered the area lined with thick wooden torches topped with fire. The other alphas followed behind with their mates and little was said among them. The crack of the fires to the cold of the night was the only sound that really interrupted the moment.</p>
  <p>Sy and you stood just within the entry of this circle of flames, one after the other one alpha with his mate took their spots around the center. Built of wood like a stage and on top - a body shrouded in white, it reminded you of something you had only seen in the movies, a funeral pyre. Rex stepped close to the structure, his head pointed toward it, the flicker of shadows and light play down his back and over his head. The shiny beads, things that looked like round coins hung and clinked together in the gust of frigid wind. </p>
  <p>You didn’t look away until you felt Sy step away. He was behind you, unhooking the handle of the torch from the pole. And he stared toward it, walked past you and flung the torch into the brush skirting the pile.</p>
  <p>The moment it caught fire something twisted within your gut and chest. At first it felt like guilt, a pang across the muscles in your chest but it persisted. It burst to life in your senses from your lungs and spread out to the tips of your fingers and toes. You heard screaming, light quips of moans from the other women. When you looked around they too were grabbing their chests at the same time you hunched over. Standing there in sparse dead grass, you tried to steady yourself, bracing the air but nothing came to your aid. It buckled your knees. Whatever this was swept through you in waves of pain and knowing. You weren’t sure of anything, but it felt okay, that all of this wouldn’t last. </p>
  <p>The wood cried as flames engulfed the bottom tier completely. And with it, the very atmosphere around you snapped and spit energy you’ve never felt before. Low growling from all around but the loudest, the longest comes from your side. You look up from the ground to Sy. Teeth bared through his thick beard his brows were pulled tight, the angles of his features once again exaggerated into something not human. You stared horrified when he began to claw at his chest, his fingers were not his own, they were long, gnarly and tipped with long nails. The yell from his mouth was an ear splitting soul shaking screech that shook your spirit. </p>
  <p>With the crack of bones, his skin sloughs off long black fur, the floppy bits hit the ground and immediately sank in and became fertile ground that sprouted green grass. His legs grew long and bulky and snapped back like that of a dog. He grew taller, bigger with a wolf's snout and face. </p>
  <p>Suddenly a shriek from the fire rang above the growling and howling around you. Upon the pyre the fire had reached Cindy, but she wasn’t laying there any more. Her body stood, claws ripped through the sheet as it too caught fire. You stared up at it hopelessly, panting hard your heart thumping at an inhuman speed, part of you gave up in the wake of this. You sat there unable to fight the buckling and rebirth of your senses.</p>
  <p>Cindy’s body lept from the toppling pyre toward you. No time to react or run something large stepped between you and it. A man screamed from your right, he was in the middle of changing to. Rex stepped toward it with his face shifting in and out of human and wolf and tried to grab the thing by its arm. </p>
  <p>The sheet had burned and melted into what was once Cindy’s face. Its jaw opened long, stretching pieces of fabric and skin across its dark mouth and shrieked. The thing swiped at Rex, slicing through his skin to the white of his flesh across his neck, chest and belly. Blood splashed into the air and to the ground. He crumpled to the ground, dead before he even touched it. And when Cindy’s body turned back toward you something suddenly impaled her chest straight back into the fire, pinning her there until the families consumed her completely. </p>
  <p>It was quiet after besides your breathing and the warping of blood in your ears. Sy, now fully transformed, stepped to Rex, picked him up and as gently as he could, placed his body too in the fire next to Cindy. </p>
  <p>His feet were large paws that you centered your attention on. Displacing the dirt with every step you refused to pull your eyes up further. And when he knelt down to you, his great big clawed furry hands sat on either side of your body. He nudged the side of your face with his wet nose until you did look up. His eyes were the same, with the ripple of honey across blue that you had seen before. He tilted his head down, rubbed his nose into the palm of your hand until finally you ran your hand over the bridge of his nose, and up into the thick fur between two giant ears. </p>
  <p>He pushed his nose into your neck gently before he stood up. Whatever had come over you was quickly dispersing. Though now, after, you smelled more, like a scent had color or flavor that you had never noticed before. The same with your vision, prying your eyes off the newly formed Sy, and glancing at the trees and saw the fog people for who they were. No longer just faces, full bodied apparitions with different clothes and emotions of their own.  And your hearing, besides the tiniest movement of creatures, you could sense the footsteps in the ground and in your ears from the direction of the house. However peering through the dark you could see their silhouettes were still quite close to the house.</p>
  <p>Sy grunted and you turned back to him. His snout was tilted up toward the sky, sniffing and licking the air. He howled long and loud and the others followed. He turned to you once again, baring his teeth and took off, leaping over the pyre toward the other side of the circle. A sudden rush of the others following their leader joined him and disappeared into the forest. </p>
  <p> </p>
  <hr/>
  <p> </p>
  <p>The hall was packed. Along with the row of three tables that you had seen before, there was another, running diagonal at the top. You sat next to Sy who sat at this table, on the middle cushion, surrounded with the faces you had come to recognize. The new members appeared as you felt, lost perhaps in the fray of the night's ceremony, exhausted too, and probably worried about their new lives. They too most likely felt the pull as well. The fading of what their old lives were being replaced by the energy of family around them.</p>
  <p>But even as they and you came to grips with what this new life included cheering erupted throughout the hall. Laughing, and gesturing toward one another as they ate and swapped tales of their adventure in the forest. Yes, this felt like<em> family</em>. Something you weren’t so used to having. </p>
  <p>Peach came walking to you and Sy holding a large platter made of wood. She came to your side and slid it into the empty space on the table. On it were slices of meat overlapping in a circle that looked nearly raw with it’s moist flesh, and dark red sauce.</p>
  <p>Sy picked one up, he placed it near your mouth. A subtle smile played at the corner of his lips as he urged you to open.  You felt the enormity of this moment if you took this bite. This was<em> it</em>, you would be accepting your place here and everything that meant. You stared into his eyes and then took a small bite. The flavor was metallic in your mouth, tangy and fleshy as you chewed. Sy ate the other part. He passed the plate to the next man who did the same with his mate.</p>
  <p>He leaned close to you, his nose sniffed your neck back and forth tilting his head slowly. “I think you got a secret.” he whispered, still sniffing you, his nose brushing upon the skin of your jaw.</p>
  <p>“I don’t think it’s a secret that this is all weird,” you laughed softly, and picked at your food.</p>
  <p>His nose touched your skin again and breathed in deep, “Oh yeah,” his lips caressed the rim of your ear. “You’re pregnant.”</p>
  <p>You jerked your head toward him, mouth slightly parted, the words escaping as they formed in your mind. “I will protect you..” he said.</p>
  <p>“I will love you ‘til the end of my days.” His fingers glided long the other side of your jaw to your chin. “D’you accept me?” he asked quietly. </p>
  <p>The hall had gone quiet. You ignored the weight of their stares. Slowly you stroked his beard and nodded slightly. “I accept you.” you whispered back. And cheering roared. </p>
  <p> </p>
  <p> </p>
  <p>The End</p>
</div>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. Part 2</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Summary: Continuation of Mesquite Grove<br/>Warnings: 18+, smut, stalking, intimidation, assault, non-consensual sex. Fantasy AU, A/B/O Dynamics, dubious consent, non-consensual acts, transfiguration, mystical pairing, scenting.  Proceed with caution.</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>                                                             </p><hr/><p> </p><p>                                                             </p><p> </p><p>She had offered an exchange.</p><p>The writhing twisted thing on the ground, whipped its long slimy arm along the bog’s black moistened soil. It bared its sharp teeth before bellowing a sorrowful moan.</p><p>Geralt stared down at what used to be a beautiful woman. With her once melodic voice she had promised youth, riches beyond measure, and power - if he would let her live.</p><p>Allow her to continue her own reign of terror over the small but humble village. She had brought strife, she carried sickness into their homes, disturbed their spirits. </p><p>Geralt wasn’t a fool. Of course he had considered her offer, but knew it was nothing more than conjured filaments of promises. It would have only been real as long as she lived.</p><p>What are a handful of crowns in exchange to leaving innocent people to harm?</p><p>Though he was no saint. It took sleeping with the village’s leader’s prettiest daughter and taking half her dowry to gain his contract. One cannot ask if one is not willing to give. </p><p>And he delighted in the taking.</p><p>As in this moment, the black eyes matched his as he stared into the abysmal void that was quickly spreading down its body. </p><p>Geralt bared his own bright white teeth and plunged the sword further into the monster's rib cage, piercing its heart and impaling the dirt below. Green ooze bubbled out of the wound. The moan gurgled into a desperate scream, echoing throughout the forest, shattering the peace surrounding it. </p><p>The moment Geralt withdrew his sword the ground beneath him shook. Around him, wind began to whip and the wispy clouds around him whirled above him. Thinking, calculating, Geralt wondered what new spell this was. Eyes now back to their golden color he stared at the swirling beginning to descend about him. </p><p>He tried to take a step, strained again to pull back from the gravity sucking him upward. </p><p>Geralt reached for the beast at the same time his feet left the ground. Out of time the rotten skin slipped through his fingers, the whirlwind carried him up and up. </p><p>The forest chattered once more. The creature laid there dead as Geralt had planned. But there was no Geralt here, or sword.</p><p> </p><hr/><p> </p><p>                                                           </p><p> </p><p>The moon hung behind a clear pane of glass, in the room you shared with Sy. Near the bed, where you laid, within her own wooden bassinet, the soft breathing of an infant soothed some of your worries. Pregnancy had looked great on you. Actually, you had never felt better and almost disturbingly so. It was September now, a month passed giving after a near painless birth to Astrid.</p><p>The little darling, Sy’s heir and your delight, and your reason for sleepless nights. Not because she required taking care of, that came easy enough, but your system had changed. You had little sickness throughout the pregnancy, energy boundless in a way you longed for the days where you could sleep a full night. </p><p>This was one of those nights. Sleepless wasn’t the word for it. You flipped on your side and stared out of the window. The advent of fall had begun revealing a clear cool night sky with stars dotting above the tops of the pecan tree basking in the white light of the moon. You heavily sighed and rolled on to your back. It was ill advised by the old matrons that new mothers were allowed to roam the woods like their other halves. So you were laying on the large, billowy bed, muscles twitching to wander, heart waiting for the moment your bare feet could hit the ground. </p><p>You stared at the wood grain above the bed and listened to the dark, imprinted the sound of Astrid’s breathing to your memory, and beyond the window pane howls - distant, calling to the night, did little to lull you to sleep. Your secret weapon to combat restlessness was to wiggle your foot. Quick short bursts of movement rocked you gently. Your eyes slowly blinked followed by a deep yawn and you shut them completely. The things to do in the morning began to drift less in your thoughts and it became more important to cave into the sinking sensation of sleep. You attempted to blink again, though did not. </p><p>Your foot stopped moving. </p><p>The dream began with feet, steadily walking through overgrown grass, stopping at first and then started again. Night rounded around the image, the skin was coated in black smudges, blood, the hem of a dark dress dragged  and smeared it around the calves. You could smell the iron in the air along with rot, not animal death, but that of felled trees with fungus aiding in its decay. A woman, she began to run as the vision pulled back and revealed that within her arms a bundled lay there. No bigger than Astrid, could have been Astrid the love you felt was as strong as that for Astrid. </p><p>But it wasn’t, this woman was afraid of losing this bundle. Though not to death, but to forces beyond her control, so she ran. </p><p>The dream shifted to fog, no footsteps to be heard. Made of air and a moist breeze they walked out from the trees and surrounded the woman. The bundle lifted from her arms despite her attempts to hold on, what was soft fabric became translucent just as the beings. Her scream scratched the inside of your ears, the wail turned yelling, her mouth was moving but the voices from it did not match. Your body began to shake, the scene rattled too. </p><p>“Wake up, Miss! - Oh, old God! Please wake up!” the voice said.</p><p>Your eyes peeled open to Peach’s deeply wrinkled face. Worried thin lips were drawn into a straight line. “Miss!”</p><p>Your back snapped up straight, head turning towards the bassinet your eyes looked over Astrid. Peach held your shoulders, “She’s okay. But you have to come down--”</p><p>You pulled her worn hands from your body and held them within your own. “What’s wrong?”</p><p>And then you felt it, a worry, deep in the pit of your stomach. </p><p>“Is it Sloan?”</p><p>Peach suddenly blubbered, you had never seen her in such a state. The aged woman was tough, and her tears had you climbing out of bed faster than what she could answer. </p><p>You stood above Astrid’s bed, touching her belly you turned back toward Peach’s hunched over figure as she wiped at her lined skin. </p><p>“I knew it would happen again..god damn--I told Alpha it could happen again.” she mumbled. </p><p>Dottie, with her curly hair pulled up tight in a high bun and tugging on old boots, rushed in. “I got Astrid.” she said hurriedly. </p><p>Dottie’s face was lowered, her eyes staring down at Astrid. She sighed, that was the moment you noticed a subtle lemon light and then she looked back at you. Behind her, beyond the window the sky whirled with clouds. Some deep yellow, others blue, circled and churned. You moved closer to the bassinet, still staring at the sky when Dottie too turned around, Peach gasped behind you. In the hustle you had not looked at the window, had it been doing this the whole time?</p><p>Clattering from down below, near the stone den, loud voices shouted, some hollered for help. Your stomach dropped more. Dottie shot out and grabbed your wrist. “Go.” she said quietly. </p><p>You walked past Peach, to the end of the bed, who was still staring at the window with her hands covering her mouth. Grabbing the thick navy robe you turned around back toward Astrid’s bassinet, Dottie was there, her face toward your sleeping baby. You threw it on as she waved for you to go.</p><p>It must have been later than you realized, the second floor was devoid of the usual lit sconces, instead the fiery light from below coxed up and gave you warm light to guide you down the stairs. The row of balcony doors came in to few as you quickly descended, the yelling had died down in its place hushed tones followed murmuring. </p><p>Eyes wide you hit the bottom of the wooden stairs and turned toward the large space with the stone monument. Women were coming in from across the other rooms with clothes in their arms. You recognized the usual pack, Tator, shorter than Sy preferred tattered jeans dragged across the floor as he paced. Macon, naked, was squatted down near a figure laying flat near the stone of the large statue. Jimbo, he was shirtless as he stretched the waist of the sweats around his waist stood up erect, his normally jovial face was straight and concerned. </p><p>You rushed forward, their eyes turned to you and you ignored their bareness as you searched for Sy. They parted for you until his naked back could be seen, “Sy?”</p><p>An older woman handed him a shirt, he turned toward you and grabbed your face. “‘You okay?” he asked. </p><p>Before you could answer, you moved to this side, your eyes dropped to the figure laying on the floor. </p><p>“Ya’ll back up,” Sy called out in a hushed voice. He looked to you again waiting for you to answer his previous question. </p><p>But you couldn’t take your eyes off the man on the floor. Sy nudged your cheek with the back of his hand, moist with sweat it was enough to draw your eyes back to him. “I’m fine, so is Astrid.” you whispered, and then pointed down at the man. “Who is that?”</p><p>“He looks-” said Jimbo, but stopped.</p><p>Peach had wiggled through the men across from you and Sy. Her blue eyes stayed on the man.</p><p>“We shifted on the other side of the property, so we were running,” began Sy, as any mumbling died away. “I scraped my leg near the old pyre. I ain’t ever seen anything like it.” His voice strained as he tried to stay calm while speaking. “What I was lookin’ at split and blurred. There was flashing lights in the sky, these clouds circled us and this asshole popped out and landed right on top of me. And then other things, monsters, fell right along with him and disappeared in the woods.”</p><p>Both you and Peach met near the side of this man. His shirt was near new, though unique and more like a tunic than a cotton tee. And his boots were good, strange though.  “There was a high pitched noise, it sounded like a bomb went off in my head.” continued Sy.</p><p>You knelt down at his side, staring at the strands of dirty silver hair. “It reminded me of war.” </p><p>Flicking down further down this man’s neck, his pulse thudded quickly underneath pale skin, around the bottom half on his chest and shirt, a medallion on a silver chain. You reached out for it, slowly at first unsure at why you were doing so, but you did it anyway. You held it, still warm from his body and swiped a thumb over the raised décor. “It’s a wolf..” you said softly. </p><p>More than that, it matched the same motif and style of that within the crest of the Syverson heirlooms you had seen so many times. </p><p>“Looks like what is on the wall in the dining room.” </p><p>“I never thought I would see the day…” said Peach.</p><p>Sy moved closer, though still standing, at your side. “What’s going on, who is this?”</p><p>Your eyes flew back up to the man’s face. Even in his sleep, silver brows seemed to glower in his rest. A familiar profile stuck out to you, it was the same as Sy’s face, same shape of lips, the clef in his chin.</p><p>“He looks like you Sloan.” you said, still holding the medallion. </p><p>And it happened fast. Peach gasped first before you realized the man’s eyes opened, yellow and pointed in your direction. He snatched your hand within his and sat up, staring down at you. Crushing your fingers around the metal, the man growled before suddenly blinking slowly. Through his nose, he breathed in deep. “You smell…like flowers...dizzy..” his lips barely moved, your eyes met his as he leaned in closer. He continued to do so, his eyes slowly shut, his hand around yours dropped as Sy stepped in time to push him off you. </p><p>The man crumbled down to his side while Sy helped you stand. “Who is his?” he was looking down at the man, brows drawn together before he stared at Peach.</p><p>Teary eyes were still on the silver haired man. Peach, sighed, mumbled something under her breath before she sighed heavily. </p><p>“He’s..” she turned her eyes up to you and then to Sy. “I didn’t think we would ever see him again. Alpha, this man..” she looked back down at him, her hands seeming wanting to reach out to stroke his hair but did not. “This boy is your brother.” she finally said. “Your twin.”</p><p> </p><hr/><p class="fake"> </p><p>                                                              </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>Members of the pack lifted the man and placed him into a bed on the second floor of the cabin. The women had undressed him, mended his scrapes and scratches as he remained unconscious. It was now late morning, daybreak had cast light into the room catching his white hair. You stood at the doorway, observing Peach check his pulse. </p><p>“He’s still breathing, seems to be sleeping.” she said to Sy. </p><p>Your eyes fell to the man. Something solid settled in your chest when you gazed at him. Akin to how you felt for Sy, but different because while you had no idea who he was, you yearned.</p><p>“How is that man your brother?”</p><p>The sound of your voice breaking the silence had Sy turning toward you. The disappointment in his express was palpable. His eyes rolled to Peach. “‘Feel like I’ve been lied to my whole life.”</p><p>“He wasn’t ‘pose to come back! No lie can be undone if there’s no proof Alpha!”</p><p>Sy stepped toward the man, pointed, “He’s right there woman! A whole lie laying in my house!”</p><p>“Sloan.” </p><p>Olive came in, a large book cradled in her arms, “This was from the old times, before there was a here and our people came to live here.” Sy made to move toward her but stopped when she spoke again, “Your mama made me promise. Omega’s trust is binding.”</p><p>She handed the book to you. “In there is about you too.” she said, looking from the thick embossed leather to you.</p><p>“What about me Olive?”</p><p>“A woman unknown. A stranger no more. Alone in the world, shiftless but finds their grounding.”</p><p>You squinted at her. “That could be anybody.”</p><p>“--catches the eye of the Alphas.” Olive continued.</p><p>Sy interrupts with what you did not catch. “Alphas?”</p><p>“First Omega with two mates.” </p><p>You blinked,  and then squeezed the bridge of your nose while struggling to understand. </p><p>“You were destined to be here. The world, gods, -- you were supposed to always be here.” said Olive. “I just..never considered that this prophecy would happen in my time.”</p><p>“Maybe if you hadn’t of lied-” Sy growled.</p><p>“I had no choice. I was bound by your mother’s word. And her actions were bonded by blood. No way around that, believe me I tried. Your father was missing. And, damnit, your mother knew not to ask the fog for help. She had no idea they would take her son in exchange...” said Olive.</p><p>Peach grumbled under her breath. She shuffled toward the end of the bed all the while staring sorrowfully at Sy. “Alpha, this man is your brother.”</p><p>“I don’t even know his name.”</p><p>“Geralt Syverson. In that book there-” Peach stuck a knobby knuckled finger toward the thick tome. “Says right in there, that man’s name is Geralt.”</p><p>Olive sniffed the air for a moment and glanced back at you.</p><p>“The rut is tonight.” she said, still staring at you. “Whatever it is you need to think about Alpha, you best do it quickly.” She turned her eyes back to him. “Because this is happening. Destiny is willing it.”</p><p>“I don’t give a damn about destiny-”</p><p>“I think you will find it is hardly worth out running.” the man mumbled from the bed. “Believe me I’ve tried.”</p><p>“Where am I?” he said while glancing out the window. Geralt sat up, moaned deeply and held his head before shifting his eyes up to the man who mirrored his likeness. “And I need a bath.”</p><p> </p><hr/><p> </p><p>                                                            </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>You stood tense outside the kitchen door. Back so tight, it was fit to snap but you pivoted from ball to heel, rested the back of your head against the grain. This man’s voice settles in the knot between your shoulder blades. It struck you even deeper in your gut, your soul, whatever that warm feeling that sat in the middle of your chest. </p><p>You know more than not, that the reason is something more than soulmates, and connections. You can smell it from here, him, just as you suspected he could sniff you out too. It was raw in your nose, primal, and instinctual.</p><p>And you were grateful that the occasional passerby did not stop. Like you, they too avoided the kitchen while this visitor ate.</p><p>“Is she yours?” asked Geralt.</p><p>Without a pause, “Yes.”</p><p>“So she follows you everywhere you go?” he asked. “Why is she standing out there?”</p><p>Sy called your name, slowly you rolled on your arm toward the entry. The moment his yellow eyes landed on yours longing unfolded within you. </p><p>“I find myself, once again, in a strange land.” he said lightly. Geralt chewed off a bite of toast and gestured toward Sy. “And this man says he is my brother. However, I believe I am much better looking. What do you say?” he said as he swallowed the mouthful.</p><p>Sy sat in the chair sideways, with his large legs splayed, he hunched over with his fist flat at the knuckles and pressed into his thigh. He turned his head to you, utterly gentle, soft even to Geralt’s gaze he gave you a half grin. </p><p>“Why are you here?” You asked.</p><p>Walking over to Sy, you kept watching Geralt the same as his eyes stayed on you. His chewing paused when you grew close, his eyes fell to the arm Sy wrapped around behind your hips before looking you in the eyes.</p><p>“I have no idea.” said Geralt, and turned back to his plate. </p><p>Slowly his gaze moved from the pile of eggs to the book between him and Sy. He picked up the bottle of beer, chugged it while still staring at the words on the pages. Such an odd man, you observed, since waking he even walked around with a sword strapped to his back. Like now, his top half curved over his plate, those strange eyes shifting -- taking in his surroundings without looking too long.</p><p>“But I overheard something about a rut?” He said to Sy. “What are you some sort of animal? A pack of mutant dogs?” he chuckled.</p><p>Sy didn’t join in his amusement. </p><p>“Werewolves.”</p><p>Sy jerked his chin, cut his eyes down to the medallion around Geralt’s neck. And casually, glanced back at that symbol on the ancient page. </p><p>“That’s the mark of my family. Our inheritance.”</p><p>Geralt put down his beer and leaned back in the wooden chair stiffly. </p><p>He rolled his jaw, flicked his tongue between his back teeth and looked to you first. “I’m over a hundred years old.” he said, and then stared at Sy. “Either this is some sort of time dream, or I’m your ancestor. This place doesn’t look like the Continent. Lacks greater magic, but this medallion - it’s been gently vibrating since I’ve arrived.”</p><p>“It warns me of magic and danger,” he said. “It’s no family heirloom. It was given to me once I completed my trails.”</p><p>It was absurd to think of movies or the vast stories of time travel, but it was all you had. </p><p>“So what if you were taken there as an infant.” You looked to Sy. “Like Olive said.” </p><p>“And time moves differently in this place you grew up in.” Geralt stared up at you, listening. </p><p>“Wouldn’t that account for something? You’re talking about all this magic like it’s true. That’s not how it is here. And only recently have I even considered anything like it.”</p><p>You continued to stare back at his unwavering glare. “Don’t you feel different?”</p><p>A long silence followed. Sy caught you staring, the heaviness of his grip on your hip pulled you to stare back at your mate. He was still considering Geralt, the man continued to look at you until he spoke.</p><p>“He does. And by the end of the night I’m sure you’ll understand why...brother.”</p><p>The title brought Geralt’s focus back to Sy. “Odder things have happened in my long life. What’s one more?”</p><p></p><div class="media-holder media-holder-draggable media-holder-figure">
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</div><p>You laid Astrid down back in the bassinet. Ready for tonight's pack dinner you walked from the room you shared with Sy. You peaked back through the door at the young woman you had left your child in care of. </p><p>She sat in the chair near, cracked open her book and smiled back at you. </p><p>You buried the anxiety with a tight nod back. Already the house buzzed with high spirits, for the arrival, and for the eve of their time of bonding. The closer you came to the dining hall the louder it was and thicker the fragrance. </p><p>The two of them, different but the same, had the effect within you.</p><p>Entering the voices quieted. Some familiar faces looked at you, smiled, nodded as you passed down the center of the long tables toward the one sitting long ways. Your space was empty, a vast void between Sy and Geralt. </p><p>They stared at you. But your eyes fell to Sy only. </p><p>And so you sat between the two big men. Something about them, their demeanor toward one another -- something had changed. And it poured over during dinner. They no longer seemed like two strangers. </p><p>Geralt leaned back on his right hand, just behind you and whispered in your ear. “I hear we have some catching up to do.”</p><p>Sy glanced at you from the side of his eye before answering a member of his pack from across the tables. </p><p>And you said nothing in return, and you did not look at him either. You picked at the potato salad on the plate before you and forced yourself to listen to Sy’s words. </p><p>“I’ll be gentle.” Geralt whispered again, this time close enough to feel his breath brush against your ear. “Maybe...” he chuckled softly. “..if you’re good.”</p><p> </p><hr/><p> </p><p>                                                      </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>You stared at Geralt from your place at the front of the pack on the balcony. He stood there observing the pack members, shoulders straight, chin level, and those yellow eyes stopping and studying ever so often. The weather fell, cold wind swept through the crowd of people staring at their Alpha. If not for the occasional blinks, and subtle tilt to his head, you would have thought Geralt was made of stone as Sy spoke.</p><p>“These are peculiar times,” said Sy, shifting his head and eyes from you to Geralt on his left. “But we aren’t strangers to oddities as such. As you all have heard, this man here is my brother.”</p><p>Indistinct mumbles descended through the fifteen or twenty men and a few women standing in front of you, Sy, and Geralt. </p><p>Sy held up his for silence. “Geralt Syverson was a child of bond made in blood. Our mother’s sorrow over the loss of our father was paid by Geralt’s exchange. It carried him off beyond the world we see now.” </p><p>Sy looked over at Geralt, who cut his eyes to him. “Carried him to distant lands where he was taken in by a woman. From what I gather his life has been hard.”</p><p>Your mate turned his focus back to the pack. “He was..changed by the people of the land.”</p><p>“Why is he back?” called a voice. “Why now?” said another.</p><p>Sy turned his head to the right and looked at you for a moment and then addressed the crowd. “The dark soul about a year back did it. The last one killed before that, was the night payment was due and my brother was taken.”</p><p>“Is he one of us?” asked a tall man, his black eyes swept from Geralt’s boots to silver hair before looking at Sy.</p><p>“‘Can’t be a Prime. There’s never been two.” he added.</p><p>Sy stared after the pack member, you could see it in his brows as he carefully considered his next words. </p><p>“There is now.”</p><p>The crowd mumbled some more, whispers, disgruntled and blameful rolled over them once again. </p><p>“There’s more on this land than we know.” Sy said loudly over them. “Shit we never seen is going on in the woods and my brother knows about it.”</p><p>Sy glanced over at Geralt who was already staring at him. “He will help. This is home now.”</p><p>Geralt nodded. “I kill monsters.”</p><p>His eyes drifted from Sy to you. “And as far as this being my home, it remains to be seen.”</p><p>“You will.” Sy clapped his big hand over Geralt’s leather clad shoulder and squeezed. “The air is changin’, you feel it?”</p><p>And as if speaking it into existence the wind shifted around them. The Alpha’s restless stances moved with one another feeling the resonance of their Alpha Prime’s words.</p><p>Geralt said nothing at first, his eyes traced back to the men. In the light of the balcony his skin shone slick with sweat. Sy grinned. </p><p>“Alright, ya’ll - meet up in a few hours.”</p><p>Sy dropped his hand, the other messaged your back and wrapped around you to pull you forward through the crowd along with Geralt.</p><p>“First order down this path is claiming.” said Sy quietly while walking through the row of doors back into the house. “They have it easier, like during the change-- like me because we have mates.”</p><p>Your stomach dropped. </p><p>Still sweating and rather perturbed Geralt grunted out unamused, “I glanced through the book Syverson.” </p><p>“Sy?” you rounded on him taking a few steps up the stairs. “This is ridiculous. I’m not-”</p><p>Sy suddenly took to the stairs, growling in his throat forcing whatever retort back down in your throat. He grabbed your arm and began to walk you up the stairs. </p><p>“Come with me brother,” called Sy over his shoulder. And when you glanced back at the silver haired man. He was staring at you, his breaths heavy and you recognized he could smell you just as you could scent him out.</p><p>You pulled against Sy, but it didn’t matter. He dragged you into their room. Gone was the bassinet, the child you shared with Sy and the room was lit by candle light and the night sky filtering through the large windows.</p><p>Geralt followed and closed the door behind him. </p><p>“Try it,” said Sy. And he repeated the growl in this throat. “Think of subduing without touching.” he added, and twisted you around to face Geralt. </p><p>“Don’t-” you said.  “I never agreed to this. I-”</p><p>Geralt stepped forward, the rumble in his throat began low and hit you harder than Sy. A deep jolt in your pelvis and wetness seeped from between your folds. The sound of his call was raw, unwavering and only grew the longer he stared into your eyes. </p><p>“A curious creature,” his hand caressed your cheek, smearing the tear into your skin. “So lovely.”</p><p>Sy released you and stepped to the side. “She was made for us. In every way possible, brother.”</p><p>Geralt hummed, blinked slowly as your compliance melted into his psyche. He had been to the edges of the Continent, seen worlds broad and miniscule. But this, the sensation to ravish and take had never been stronger than in this moment. The urge to...plant, sow his legacy felt primal and ancient.</p><p>Sy breathed in deep, smelling the fragrance of your heat fill the room. “She’ll fight. But it only makes it sweeter.”</p><p>You fought against the rush. “You--don’t know what you're talking about Sy..please..” you strained to look away from Geralt.</p><p>“You know what the rut does to me baby..” whispered Sy. “You belong to us now.”</p><p>Sy walked from the room, leaving you to Geralt. And with him any hope that the man you loved, wouldn’t do this. But the moment the thick wooden door clicked shut Geralt tore at your t-shirt, grabbed the back of your hair and pulled you against his chest. </p><p>His lips hovered over yours. Humming the Alpha chant he kept you there staring into your eyes. </p><p>“I have so much power over you.” his deep voice mollified your senses. “It was confusing at first, this world, how it worked. But I feel the desperate pull to be inside you, entirely. And I fear.”</p><p>Throat dry, you struggled to speak against the cloudy haze of hormones. “--fear?”</p><p>“That I wouldn’t be able to stop myself..” Geralt pressed his lips on top of yours. He split them with his tongue, plunging and licking your teeth and tongue. </p><p>You pushed against him, you tried to unglue yourself from the nature blossoming inside. It wasn’t nearly enough. </p><p>“The more you resist,” he groaned and kissed around your mouth slowly making his way back to your mouth. “The worse it is..”</p><p>Geralt fumbled with his armor, shedding it fast when he released you to sway where you stood. And before you knew it, his naked form stood in front of you, the muscles with dark swirls of hair coating his chest and down a wide trail over his abdomen toward his chubby, thick cock.</p><p>You lunged to the left, but you were too overcome by the nature of your place in this culture. Geralt grabbed you about the chest and waist and walked you toward the bed. Shaking your head, crying was met with his Alpha hum. </p><p>He tossed you on the bed back first, stripped your pants away and pulled off what was left of the tattered shirt. Head half empty, the other overpowered by lust, beckoned him to fulfil his duty. </p><p>And as he pounced on top, before you could stop yourself, your fingers traced over the mounds of his pecks, around his shoulders and pulled him toward you. </p><p>Geralt’s tight grin, his yellow eyes delighted in your sudden offering. But he grabbed your wrists anyway, held you down below him. And without much care, squeezed his way past your slippery folds. </p><p>His mass pounded your body into the bed. His slick, porcelain skin slides against the tops of your nipples, you swear the briny dripping from him is your ultimate undoing. He takes from you, but his thrust gives in its own ritualic way. There was no escaping the act of completion, and as the swollen feeling in your clit cascaded into bone aching bliss you fell into his command. Your Alpha Prime, the second man in your life. </p><p>He flipped you over, ass up and fell back into line with his rhythmic thrusting. It didn’t matter that he spread you further, had a handful of your face in his hand pressed against his jaw. He powered away inside of you, dropped his lips along your neck. And with his other hand, he held your head down, licked the stretch of moist skin there slowly. </p><p>“I claim you,” Geralt whispered and buried his cock deep. His teeth nipped the skin of your neck, your ass arched more, craving the pain of his depth. And his bite pierced at the same time he spilled inside of you. Your whimpering, the small, surrendering mewl flared his nostrils as he bit down harder. </p><p>The door slammed open smacking the wall, your eyes rolled in your skull before falling on the shape of Sy. He walked in and shoved it back shut. </p><p>“I can’t wait any longer,” he groaned and began to peel off his clothes. “I can smell her down to the kitchen…”</p><p>Geralt tried to move inside of you. Another round of simpering whines called from your mouth. Sy rushed to the side of the bed where your head rested.</p><p>“Don’t,” Sy warned. “You’ll hurt her.” he said softly while stroking your hair. </p><p>“Lay there with her, hold her. She’ll bond with you until you can pull out again.” he instructed.</p><p>Sy sat on the floor, he laid his head not too far away from your own as Geralt wrapped his arms around your back to your chest. You stared back at him as he gazed at you achieving peace.</p><p>“Good girl.” he whispered. </p><p>Geralt turned his head back into your neck, humming low, and sniffing your hairline slowly it stimulated the vibration of love deep inside of you. The rush spread.</p><p>“Now you have two of us.” said Geralt.</p><p>“It’ll be my turn next,” added Sy. “We’ll take care of you, baby.”</p><p> </p><hr/><p> </p><p>
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    <b>The Next Morning</b>
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</p><p> </p><p>The brothers ran together last night. Their howls carried through the room and even invaded your sleep. Dreams of a black wolf, a white wolf, fog, wilderness kept you stuck to the bed most of the early morning. </p><p>The night sitter brought Astrid to the room as the sun rose. And you spent time with your daughter despite the ache in your body. When the voices in the cabin began to grow louder you knew they were home again. </p><p>You wondered if it was easier for Geralt, the change that night. Not that you saw it in person. But you couldn’t help but feel that your new mate somehow deserved a painless shift. </p><p>And when the sitter came bounding back in off the energy surging through the home. She scooped up Astrid. </p><p>“The Alpha Prime’s are asking about.” her bubbly voice softly rang.</p><p>Even if you did feel for Geralt, the night before was remembered. “I don’t care.” you said and got up from the bed. </p><p>“I’ll have some coffee up here.” you added and headed toward the bathroom.</p><p></p><div class="media-holder media-holder-draggable media-holder-figure">
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</div><p>You ignored the smell of food wafting into the bedroom after the shower. Your eyes landed on a tray on the end of the bed. A platter of toast, fruit and thermos of coffee waited for you. </p><p>And so did two tall, disgruntled men.</p><p>“Why didn’t you come down?” asked Sy, pushing away from the closed door. </p><p>Geralt slowly walked toward the bed, but turned his back to you and Sy by looking out the window.</p><p>You glared at Sy. “You--neither of you gets to decide -”</p><p>“Ah but we do.” Geralt butted in, hands clasped behind him he turned from the window.  “The moment you felt me enter your slippery cunt you belonged to the both of us.”</p><p>You look to Sy for support but he just stared back.</p><p>“From what I’ve learned you have no choice but to submit.” Geralt glanced across the room for affirmation, Sy simply nodded. “Therefore, you will learn to love it.”</p><p>You started to snap back, yell, spit anything but a low growl began from Geralt that stopped you in your tracks. “I don’t want to hurt my...mate.”</p><p>Geralt and Sy walked toward you, the silver haired at the left, the bushy faced man at the right. Sy put his hands on his hips and grinned kindly back at you.</p><p>“We want you happy, dove.” Geralt carcasses your face, he dipped in and began to sniff your cheek, down your neck. “God, do you smell that?” he asked Sy.</p><p>Sy stepped over, you turned your watery eyes to him. He was softer with his eyes, gazing at you with love. Geralt held the back of your head allowing Sy to lean in toward the pulse point on your neck and ran his nose across your skin.</p><p>“It’s sweet. Like honey, or some wild flower but deeper, yes?” he asked Sy.</p><p>He knew that smell alright, the deep resonant fragrance coated the back of this throat. It flipped a switch in the back of his mind as he breathed in deep. He wouldn’t have to mate to procreate, not for a few months.</p><p>“She’s pregnant. That’s the smell..and it smells like she has both of us in there.”</p><p> </p><p>
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